151 Quotes & Sayings By Gayle Forman

Gayle Forman is the author of four novels, including WHERE SHE WENT and I BELIEVE IN YOU, and the New York Times bestselling novel LOVEDEATH. Her most recent book, THE GIRL WHO LOVED FRANKENSTEIN and the story collection PORTFOLIO, were both published in September 2012. She lives in New York City.

1
If you stay, I'll do whatever you want. I'll quit the band, go with you to New York. But if you need me to go away, I'll do that, too. I was talking to Liz and she said maybe coming back to your old life would be too painful, that maybe it'd be easier for you to erase us. And that would suck, but I'd do it. I can lose you like that if I don't lose you today. I'll let you go. If you stay. Gayle Forman
Love, it never dies. It never goes away, it never...
2
Love, it never dies. It never goes away, it never fades, so long as you hang on to it. Love can make you immortal Gayle Forman
I'm not sure this is a world I belong in...
3
I'm not sure this is a world I belong in anymore. I'm not sure that I want to wake up. Gayle Forman
Please Mia,
4
Please Mia, " he implores. "Don't make me write a song. Gayle Forman
There are so many things that demand to be said....
5
There are so many things that demand to be said. Where did you go? Do you ever think about me? You've ruined me. Are you okay? But of course, I can't say any of that. Gayle Forman
6
But the you who you are tonight is the same you I was in love with yesterday, the same you I’ll be in love with tomorrow. Gayle Forman
You dumb-ass,
7
You dumb-ass, " I crooned, kissing her on the forehead. "You don't share me. You own me. Gayle Forman
8
Stains are even worse when you're the only one who can see them. Gayle Forman
We are born in one day. We die in one...
9
We are born in one day. We die in one day. We can change in one day. And we can fall in love in one day. Anything can happen in just one day. Gayle Forman
10
Love is not something you protect. It’s something you risk. Gayle Forman
11
I just wanted to tell you that I understand if you go. It’s okay if you have to leave us. It’s okay if you want to stop fighting. Gayle Forman
12
Sometimes fate or life or whatever you want to call it, leaves a door a little open and you walk through it. But sometimes it locks the door and you have to find the key, or pick the lock, or knock the damn thing down. And sometimes, it doesn't even show you the door, and you have to build it yourself. But if you keep waiting for the doors to be opened for you.. I think you'll have a hard time finding single happiness, let alone that double portion. Gayle Forman
Whoever said that the past isn't dead had it backward....
13
Whoever said that the past isn't dead had it backward. It's the future that's already dead, already played out. Gayle Forman
And now I am here, as alone as I've ever...
14
And now I am here, as alone as I've ever been. I am seventeen years old. This is not how it's suppose to be. This is not how my life is suppose to turn out. Gayle Forman
15
So, this is how it's become? This is how I've become? A walking contradiction? I'm surrounded by people and feel alone. I claim to crave a bit of normalcy but now that I have some, it's like I don't know what to do with it, I don't know how to be a normal person anymore. Gayle Forman
16
Fake it 'till you make it. Gayle Forman
But still, I find the need to remind myself of...
17
But still, I find the need to remind myself of the temporariness of a day, to reassure myself that I got through yesterday, I'll get through today. Gayle Forman
18
And that's when I understand that I have been stained. Whether I'm still in love with him, whether he was ever in love with me, and no matter who he's in love with now, Willem changed my life. He showed me how to get lost, and then I showed myself how to get found. Gayle Forman
Life might take you down different roads. But each of...
19
Life might take you down different roads. But each of you gets to decide which one to take. Gayle Forman
It's my turn to see you through, ' she whispers,...
20
It's my turn to see you through, ' she whispers, coming back to me and wrapping me in her blanket as I lose my shit all over again. She holds me until I recover my Y chromosome. Gayle Forman
Sarcasm creates a chasm between yourself and others.
21
Sarcasm creates a chasm between yourself and others. Gayle Forman
In the calculus of feelings, you never really know how...
22
In the calculus of feelings, you never really know how one person's absence will affect you more than another's. Gayle Forman
My stomach lurched, an appetizer before the full portion of...
23
My stomach lurched, an appetizer before the full portion of heartache I had a feeling was going to be served at some point soon. Gayle Forman
24
I remember watching it all and getting the tickling in my chest and thinking to myself: This is what happiness feels like. Gayle Forman
We kiss again. This next kiss is the kind that...
25
We kiss again. This next kiss is the kind that breaks open the sky. It steals my breath and gives it back. It shows me that every other kiss I've had in my life has been wrong. Gayle Forman
26
I force my eyes upward and look at Mia for the first time. She's still beautiful. Not in an obvious Vanessa LeGrande or Bryn Shraeder kind of way. In a quiet way that's always been devastating to me. Her hair, long and dark, is down now, swimming damply against her bare shoulders, which are still milky white and covered with the constellation of freckles that I used to kiss. The scar on her left shoulder, the one that used to be an angry red weld is silvery pink now. Almost like the latest rage in tattoo accessories. Almost pretty. Gayle Forman
27
We stand there for a moment, staring at each other, savoring it. And then all at once, we slam together. Mia's legs are off the ground, wrapped around my waist, her hands dipping in my hair, my hands tangled in hers. And our lips. There isn't enough skin, enough spit, enough time, for the lost years that our lips are trying to make up for as they find each other. We kiss. The electric current switches to high. The lights throughout all of Brooklyn must be surging. Gayle Forman
It takes a certain kind of naiveté, or perhaps just...
28
It takes a certain kind of naiveté, or perhaps just stupidity, to know how things will end and still hope otherwise. Gayle Forman
29
Adam is crying and somewhere inside of me I am crying, too, because I'm feeling things at last. I'm feeling not just the physical pain, but all that I have lost, and it is profound and catastrophic and will leave a crater in me that nothing will ever fill. Gayle Forman
30
Sleep would be so welcome. A warm blanket of black to erase everything else. Sleep without dreams. I've heard people talk about the sleep of the dead. Is that what death would feel like? The nicest, warmest, heaviest never-ending nap? If that's what it's like, I wouldn't mind. If that's what dying is like, I wouldn't mind that at all. Gayle Forman
Is that what death would feel like? The nicest, warmest,...
31
Is that what death would feel like? The nicest, warmest, heaviest never-ending nap? If that’s what it’s like, I wouldn’t mind. Gayle Forman
32
It's okay if you want to go. Everyone wants you to stay. I want you to stay more than I've ever wanted anything in my life. But that's what I want and I could see why it might not be what you want. So I just wanted to tell you that I understand if you go. It's okay if you have to leave us. It's okay if you want to stop fighting. Gayle Forman
But that's the thing with death. The whisper of it...
33
But that's the thing with death. The whisper of it descent travels fast and wide, and people must've know I'd become a corpse because nobody even came to view the body. Gayle Forman
Samo mislim da su sprovodi vrlo slični smrti. Možeš imati...
34
Samo mislim da su sprovodi vrlo slični smrti. Možeš imati želje i planove, ali na kraju ipak nemaš kontrolu ni nad čim. Gayle Forman
35
Green trees against the sky in the spring rain while the sky set off the spring trees in the obscuration. Red flowers dot the land in the breeze's chase while the land colored up in red after the kiss. Gayle Forman
Accidents. It's all about the accidents.
36
Accidents. It's all about the accidents. Gayle Forman
37
To be or not to be: that is the question. That's from Hamlet's - maybe Shakespeare's - most famous soliloquy. I had to memorize the whole speech for sophomore English, and I can still remember every word. I didn't give it much thought back then. I just wanted to get all the words right and collect my A. Gayle Forman
That happens a lot with Shakespeare. The women go after...
38
That happens a lot with Shakespeare. The women go after what they want the men wind up suckered into things. Gayle Forman
You forget, time doesn't exist anymore. You gave it to...
39
You forget, time doesn't exist anymore. You gave it to me. Gayle Forman
She didn't care that people called her a bitch. 'It's...
40
She didn't care that people called her a bitch. 'It's just another word for feminist, ' she told me with pride. Gayle Forman
Neither sleet nor rain nor a half inch of snow...
41
Neither sleet nor rain nor a half inch of snow will compel me to dress like a lumberjack. Gayle Forman
But now here I am: No money. No place to...
42
But now here I am: No money. No place to stay. It should be my worst nightmare. But I don't care. It's funny the things you think you're scared of until they're upon you, and then you're not. Gayle Forman
Sometimes we meet people and are so symbiotic with them,...
43
Sometimes we meet people and are so symbiotic with them, it’s as if we are one person, with one mind, one destiny. Gayle Forman
She said it was because one day I was going...
44
She said it was because one day I was going to have to go through a metamorphosis like a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly and that scared me, so butterflies scared me. Gayle Forman
45
You never know what will last." He said that earlier, about accidents, about never knowing which one is just a kink in the road and which one is a fork, about never knowing your life is changing until it's already happened." I think sometimes you do know, " I say, my voice filling with emotion. Gayle Forman
46
..that whole day, being with Willem, being Lulu, it made me realize that all my life I've been living in a small, square room, with no windows and no doors. And I was fine. I was happy, even. I thought. Then someone came along and showed me there was a door in the room. One that I'd never even seen before. Then he opened it for me. Held my hand as I walked through it. And for one perfect day, I was on the other side. I was somewhere else. Someone else. And then he was gone, and I was thrown back into my little room. And now, no matter what I do, I can't seem to find that door. . Gayle Forman
47
I run my finger along the crease of the envelope, feel the weight of history inside. Wherever I'm going next, these are coming with me. Gayle Forman
48
Don't be scared... Women can handle the worst kind of pain. You'll find out one day. Gayle Forman
49
Concert' doesn’t mean standing up like a target in front of thousands of strangers. It means coming together. It means harmony. Gayle Forman
50
After that, I became kind of fascinated by her and by what I guessed was her ability to hear music in the silence. Back then, I'd wanted to be able to do that, too. So I took to watching her play, and though I told myself the reason for my attention was because she was as dedicated a musician as I was and that she was cute, the truth was that I also wanted to understand what she heard in the silence. Gayle Forman
51
I do have a point to all this, ” she continues. “There are like twenty people in that waiting room right now. Some of them are related to you. Some of them are not. But we’re all your family.” She stops now. Leans over me so that the wisps of her hair tickle my face. She kisses me on the forehead. “You still have a family, ” she whispers. Gayle Forman
52
Life is a big fat gigantic stinking mess, that's the beauty of it, too. Gayle Forman
53
There are like twenty people in that waiting room right now. Some of them are related to you. Some of them are not. But we're all your family. She stops now. Leans over me so that wisps of her hair tickle my face. She kisses me on the forehead. You still have a family, she whispers. Gayle Forman
54
Dying is easy. Living is hard Gayle Forman
55
I clap because I know what will happen when I stop. It's the same thing that happens when I turn off a really good movie - one that I've lost myself to - which is that I'll be thrown back to my own reality and something hollow will settle in my chest. Sometimes, I'll watch a movie all over again just to recapture that feeling of being inside something real. Which, I know, doesn't make any sense. Gayle Forman
56
I clap so that I can hold on to this feeling. I clap because I know what will happen when I stop. It’s the same thing that happens when I turn off a really good movie - one that I’ve lost myself to - which is that I’ll be thrown back to my own reality and something hollow will settle in my chest. Gayle Forman
57
One in a million cases; such comforting odds, except when you were the one Gayle Forman
58
Mom was adamantly pro-choice. She had a bumper sticker on the car that read If you can't trust me with a choice, how can you trust me with a child? But in her case the choice was to keep me. Gayle Forman
59
Every fiction has its base in fact. Gayle Forman
60
We were all forged in the crucible. Gayle Forman
61
..being Lulu, it made me realize that all my life I've been living in a small, square room, with no windows and no doors. And I was fine. I was happy, even. I thought. Then someone came along and showed me there was a door in the room. One that I'd never even seen before. Then he opened it for me. Held my hand as I walked through it. And for one perfect day, I was on the other side. I was somewhere else. Someone else. And then he was gone, and I was thrown back into my little room. And now, no matter what I do, I can't seem to find that door. . Gayle Forman
62
But then one time, you track down an email address and you're near a computer with Internet access so you don't have that nice cushion and you type what you're feeling and press send before you have a chance to talk yourself out of it. And then you wait, and wait, and wait, and nothing comes back, so all those things you thought were so important to say, really, they weren't. They weren't worth saying at all. Gayle Forman
63
It's just accidental, just temporary. Until the next accident sends me somewhere new. That's how life works. Gayle Forman
64
I want to undo this. To make it right. But I have no idea how. I don't seem to know how to open up to people without getting the door slammed in my face. So I do nothing. Gayle Forman
65
Forgivenesss: It's a miracle drug. It's God's miracle drug. Gayle Forman
66
I'm not sure if the question's rhetorical or if she thinks I have a clue to her metaphysical mystery. And I'm in no state to answer either way because I'm crying. I don't realize it till I taste the sale against my lips. I can't remember the last time I've cried but, once I accept the mortification of sniveling like a baby, the floodgates open and I'm sobbing now, in front of Mia. In front of the whole damn world. Gayle Forman
67
Losing me will hurt; it will be the kind of pain that won't feel real at first, and when it does, it will take her breath away. Gayle Forman
68
How is it possible that a boyfriend ceases to exist from one day to another? Gayle Forman
69
My chips are all cashed out. There's nothing to lose. Or maybe I've already lost it and found it, and whatever else there might be to lose... Gayle Forman
70
You can't undo loss. You can't unmake a mistake. (What The Hell Have You Done, Sophie Roth?) Gayle Forman
71
Adam's lips are set in a grime line. I can't tell if he's about to cry or about to punch the guard. For his sake, I hope it's the former. For you own, I hope the latter. Gayle Forman
72
...Sleepovers and dance parties and those talks we would have until three in the morning that would make us feel lousy the next day because we’d slept like hell but also feel good because the talks were like blood transfusions, moments of realness and hope that were pinpricks of light in the dark fabric of small-town life. Gayle Forman
73
[My parents] always seemed less like lovebirds than like amiable business partners, for whom I'm the sole product. Gayle Forman
74
It's just one day, one twenty-four-hour period to get yourself through. - Adam Gayle Forman
75
But sometimes the memories feel so real, so visceral, so personal, that I confuse them with my own. Gayle Forman
76
He gives me a little shrug, like, of course, why else? And at this point, I really have no right to be surprised by people's capacity for kindness and generosity, but still, I am. I'm floored every time. Gayle Forman
77
You thought too hard. Same with travel. You can't work too much at it, or it feels like work. You have to surrender yourself to the chaos. To the accidents. Gayle Forman
78
...he starts telling them about our day, embellishing it so that it almost sounds fun. It's how all good travel stories are born. Nightmares spun into punch lines. Gayle Forman
79
We can change in one day. We can fall in love in one day. Anything can happen in one day. Gayle Forman
80
I look at Ben now. And again I wonder how it is that we can feel so many of the same things and be so utterly different. Gayle Forman
81
My anger feels hot and bilious but I keep it bottled until it doubles back and I'm mad at myself. Gayle Forman
82
The line between true self and feigned self is blurred on all sides. Gayle Forman
83
It feels like the city is telling secrets down here, privy only to those who think to listen. Gayle Forman
84
When you make such a large withdrawal of happiness, somewhere you'll have to make an equally large deposit. It all goes back to the universal law of equilibrium. Gayle Forman
85
It's like you're averse to adventure. Gayle Forman
86
Sometimes fate or life or whatever you want to call it, leaves a door a little open and you walk through it. But sometimes it locks the door and you have to find the key, or pick the lock, or knock the damn thing down. And sometimes, it doesn't even show you the door, and you have to build it yourself. But if you keep waiting for the doors to be opened for you..." she trails off. Gayle Forman
87
It was like finding out the world was made of gossamer and could be so easily ripped apart. To be solely at the mercy of fate. Gayle Forman
88
I don't want to lose you because of the f**ked-up way I found you. Gayle Forman
89
Maybe he was overwhelmed, like I am overwhelmed, by that mysterious intersection where love meets luck, where fate meets will. Because he'd been waiting for her. And there she was. Gayle Forman
90
Sometimes fate or life or whatever you want to call it, leaves a door a little open and you walk through it. But sometimes it locks the door and you have to find the key, or pick the lock, or knock the damn thing down. And sometimes, it doesn’t even show you the door, and you have to build it yourself. Gayle Forman
91
Letting go. Everyone talks about it like it's the easiest thing. Gayle Forman
92
Firefly, it is an act of bravery to feel your feelings. Oh, Meg would've loved that. It's an act of bravery to feel your feelings, even if your feelings are telling you to die. Gayle Forman
93
She looks at me, square in the eye. Taking aim. And then she pulls the trigger. “Because I hated you.” The wind, the noise, it all just goes quiet for a second, and I’m left with a dull ringing in my ear, like after a show, like after a heart monitor goes to flatline.“ Hated me? W Gayle Forman
94
Oh honey, have you learned nothing from these plays? Ain't such a line between faking and being. Gayle Forman
95
Is this how it is with lies? The first one comes hard, the second one easier, until they slip off your tongue easier than truths - maybe because they are easier than truths. Gayle Forman
96
I realize then that it's not enough to know what someone is called. You have to know who they are. Gayle Forman
97
I'll keep you here.' He taps his temple. 'Where you can't get lost. Gayle Forman
98
If you could know going in that twenty-five years of love would break you in the end, would you risk it? Because isn’t it inevitable? When you make such a large withdrawal of happiness, somewhere you’ll have to make an equally large deposit. It all goes back to the universal law of equilibrium. Gayle Forman
99
And just in general, I'm better. Better than I've been since Bram died, and in some ways better than I was even before that. No, Lulu didn't break my hear. But I'm beginning to wonder if in some roundabout way, she fixed it. Gayle Forman
100
But then Mason touches my neck, to the spot on it where the cut from that night has since healed, and I pull away. He was right, after all; it didn't leave a scar, though part of me wishes it had. At least I'd have some evidence, some justification of this permanence. Stains are even worse when you're the only one who can see them. Gayle Forman